We're coming up on wedding season and for us at Cleveland Exotic Dance that means bachelorette party season!!!

We'll be at Brides World 2012 this Sunday, January 29th from 12:00-4:00pm.  Come to this FREE event and visit with us out at our booth (we'll be the ones with the pole!), check out all the vendors, or watch one of the Catan's bridal fashion shows.  Also, you can register online or at the door to wine 5 free tuxedo rentals for your bridal party!

I'll be there showing you exactly what you will learn during your pole party.  We also have a big anouncement for all bridesmaids that are struggling to plan the bachelorette party.  What's more, there will be a drawing for a FREE bachelorette party at the studio!!!

One of the weird things about managing an exotic dance studio is that it sort of forces people in to playing with you.  If you a looking to practice your pole skills in the Cleveland area (and don't own a pole yourself), you only have so many options for practice space.  There are options though, and that's where CED is trying to set ourselves apart.  We're looking to build a community.

Having a core group of students that came to every class and treated the studio as their second home was something that Roxi has been working towards since she started CED nearly five years ago.  For several years there, Amber (our pole party instructor) and I were this core group.  We found a new form of expression (and a great workout!) in pole dance and burlesque.  It wasn't until we moved to our current location on Perkins that this group started to grow.  We hired on Jess, Kori, and Danielle as instructors and formed our in-house burlesque troupe Hilar-A-Tease.

We were lucky enough to fall in with the Dr. Sketchy Cleveland group this past year.  Our burlesque and belly dance instructor Danielle Muad'Dib introduced her classes to the group in November of 2010 and by June we were hosting the group at our studio.

Beyond getting some fantastic exposure for the studio, we made some really awesome new friends that night.

We spent the rest of the night hanging out, drinking, and talking with our new friends.  I personally spent part of the night drunkenly talking to Randy Crider (the artist responsible for the sketch above) about one of my favorite subjects: Venture Brothers.  A couple of weeks later, I was talking to him about wanting to help him out with a pin-up art show he had coming up with some of the other people from Dr. Sketchy.  Danielle made the suggestion and a group of 10 of us from the studio's burlesque classes dressed up in our best pin-up gear and crashed Easy, Breezy, Beautiful to help draw a crowd.

We got to meet a bunch of artists outside of the group from Dr. Sketchy at the show. Easy, Breezy, Beautiful was such a success that Randy and I decided that we should do it again, only at the studio and with more dancing girls.  After months of planning, the studio hosted the Cleveland Exotic Dance Winter Soiree last month.

20 different artists had pieces on display and 13 girls performed.  It was a fantastic night with all the wonderful friends we had been fortunate enough to make over the past year.

Our goal for this coming year is to keep this community growing.  We're in the process of planning a pole showcase for March and Randy and I have already started planning another art show for this summer.  Beyond organizing large events, we've decided to start hosting monthly pole jams for an excuse to hang out and play.  These will not only by a chance for all of our pole classes to get together and practice, but also an opportunity for those new to pole (or just new to the studio) to come and hang out.  We'll be hosting the first of these monthly pole jams tomorrow night from 7-10.  I hope to see you there!

-Lisa Wenhart

Facebook event page for the January Pole Jam:  http://www.facebook.com/events/303503706353730/

Our friends from Dr. Sketchy Cleveland: http://drsketchycleveland.com

The group responsible for organizing Dr. Sketchy Cleveland: http://www.facebook.com/YoyoSyndicate

The man responsible for our new flyers and organizing the art for the Winter Soiree: http://www.randolphcrider.com

6 amazing artists who all currently have works on display at our studio:  http://rustbeltmonster.blogspot.com

Cleveland Exotic Dance will be doing mini pole lessons and demos at Simply Explicit's ladies night, tonight from 6-9pm.

Simply Explicit is the warehouse of adult toys and fun. Simply the largest shop in the area and conveniently right next to Christie's Brunswick. Oh yeah, after the ladies night we are heading to the strip club!!!

The ladies night at Simply Explicit is FREE! Not only will we be doing pole demos but there will be a ton of other fun vendors there, free martinis and appetizers, and 10 minute massages. We are so excited to have been invited. Can't wait to see you there.

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Curious about what we do but haven't quite pushed yourself to take the plunge and come in for a class?

Well, this Saturday from 5-7pm you can check out the studio for FREE!

Not only will everything on the poster below be happening but there will also be clothing for sale from Rock Star Rehab, pasties and costume pieces from Danielle Muad'Dib, and the coolest accessories from VisualGrammar216!
I've also heard that Faith with be firing up the grill on our rooftop patio. Cleveland looks amazing from our roof! Bring something to throw on the grill.
The total number of performances that night has been tallied. 15! Up 15 acts for FREE!!!

It's from 5-7pm so you can still do family stuff during the day, come check us out, and then still have time to go out at night! PERFECT!

Just a wee reminder (can you tell I've been in Scotland for a while?) about the Burlesque on Wheels Workshop coming to Cleveland June 11th!!! 

Hold on to your hats cause these dames will make you dizzy with their whirlwind of tips and tricks. If you are currently performing, want to perform, just really like burlesque and want to have some fun then sign up. This combo in Cleveland may never happen again. Here's where to register.

For the next few weeks we will be featuring one of the gals who will be teaching in the workshop. Our first feature, Atlanta's own Vagina Jenkins.

Since 2003, The Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins has been gracing stages worldwide with her classic, breathtaking striptease. An ecdysiast exemplar, Vagina Jenkins style puts a modern spin on classic burlesque, hoochiecoochie & shake dancer traditions. 

The Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins uses African American vernacular dance, the conventions of vaudeville and low brow theatre as well as feminist/ queer performance art techniques to craft performance art that defies audience expectations and re-defines the boundaries of the modern art making process.

READ MORE (except above from her website)

In the Burlesque on Wheels workshop Vag will be teaching you all about Bump and Grind!!! Watch more of Ms. Jenkins below!

Who should do this? Everyone who's into pole dance. Yes, it's a contest. Yes, there are prizes. But don't get all hung up about thinking you can't do it. Sure you can. This is a chance to go show off what you do have, be proud of it, and have a good time. This is not a Cleveland Exotic Dance event but we fully support Poleaddix and would love to see a good turnout for them. You can do this!

I haven't seen it yet, and I'll tell you what. I don't want to. I'm afraid it's going to be a Hollywood sham. Now I know my fears are not unfounded. Thanks Dr. Lucky! 

So what is a better example of burlesque? Watch this.

Sure I love the glamorous, cabaret side, but it's just a small small side to it. The second video is really why I love it!

Roxi

The class schedule is out!

We've got our regular Pole, Burlesque, and Belly Dance classes all ready to start up for you again, and a TON of new stuff.

• Hoop Dance & Fitness is back.
• Hip Hop is now a drop-in, PCD style, super sexy workout class to get you in shape for the summer while you are learning some of the hottest dance moves.
• Lots and Lots of workshops and the list of workshops we've got going is only Spring Session A!!! There will be more added late April/early May for Spring Session B.
• You can now buy custom hoops on our website.

With the new schedule we have a prize drawing.

We are giving away
1. A $20 Victoria's Secret gift card.
2. One of our special workshops this semester free for you and a friend.

Here's what you do. We want to hear what you have to say about CED and we'd like you to share the love with others. 
Actively tag Cleveland Exotic Dance in either your Facebook status update or Twitter tweet. We are notified when people chat about us, so we'll be able to track who's posting away. All names of people who post will be collected and we will randomly draw the winner.

Remember this is active tagging. On Facebook you type "@cleveland exotic dance" and select us. On Twitter you also use @ but our user name there is different. It's "@ClevExoticDance"
Go ahead and tag away and say anything nifty about us. Tell people what your favorite class is, what you want to take, what you like about the different dance styles, shout out to your friends to get them to take a class with you, whatever. 

UPDATE: We found a problem with Facebook. All the instructors at CED manage CED's Facebook page but unless one of us is personally your friend on Facebook we won't be able to see if you tagged us or not. That's a huge problem. So, for Facebook, we are initiating the honor system. If you have tagged us in a FB post please come over to CED's FB page and write on our wall what you wrote. Then we'll enter you in the drawing.

UPDATE 2: The drawing will happen Wednesday April 6. Entries must be in that day by 7pm.

Just to be clear also, instructors and family of instructors at CED are not eligible for the drawing.

What are you waiting for?

This is going to be a great jump for the acceptance of pole dance as something beautiful, sophisticated, artistic, and physically demanding rather than just being associated with stripping. 

JAGGED: A Contemporary Pole Dance Company, has made it on to Season 6 of America's Best Dance Crew. The season starts Thursday, April 7th. I've been checking out the group on YouTube and their website. I can't wait to see what they do on ABDC.

Danielle was once NE Ohio's premiere authentic Egyptian Cabaret and folkloric belly dancer...Danielle is back on Saturday night for a rare and fantastic evening!!!!!!!!!!!

She is a sought after instructor and is best known for her zill instruction and technique

She had been seen on HBO, MTV2, MTV Europe, The Caroline Rhea show, Fox 8,Tiger Woods, Caroline Rhea,as well as on stage with Third Eye Blind, Flaming Lips,Cobre Verde, Bellydance Superstars(Cleve.03), Billboard magazine, Plain Dealer, Cleveland Magazine, Al Sahafa, Nikos on Detroit, Kan Zaman, with Tony Mikeal, Tony Eid, Gaida,George Wassouf, FiFI Abdou the list goes on... After a hiatus from public belly dance shows to pursue her other careers of extraordinary proportions. including being "Squeal" of the vaudeville duo; "Pinch and Squeal" pin up modelling (for in the infamous George Barris and Greg Hildebrandt) and Make up artist for film, stage and television shes back... dont miss it..its going to be a trip

Oh Cleveland, you have no idea what your in for!

Saturday March 19, 2011
Kan Zaman Restaurant
1616 W. 25th St
Cleveland, OH  

From what I understand, she'll be on at 11:30pm. You WILL want to get there earlier though to get a good spot and enjoy some food and drinks beforehand. 

What Danielle's Belly Dance peers have said about her.
"You can just smell Egypt when you dance " -Jillina
"Dont come to Egypt, Id be out of work!" - Dina of Egypt

Danielle has also inspired and taught many of Cleveland's other well known dancers such as Leyla Soleil.
She is currently teaching at Cleveland Exotic Dance, both Belly Dance and Burlesque classes! The next session of classes will be starting early April (schedule will be posted on the studio's website by March 22nd)